Was It Meant To Be
by Icyfio
Summary: Sometime, certain things are not meant to be. The person you love, might not be the one who understand you the best. What will happen when Iruka realize it?
1. Chapter 1

It's been two months since he last saw his love. His heart couldn't stop yearning to see his love, be home and in his arms. How had he missed his lover's touch, the soothing and gentle voice calling out his name, the genuine concern he could always seek comfort from and the warmth radiating from the soul of his very love.

The thought of being deprived from it for the last two months was unbearable. It was suffocating to the extent where he had wanted to end his mission as soon as possible just to get back to his lover. But to finish a mission in haste constituted a high risk in jeopardizing it. He cannot allow that. In fact, he would never allow that. His years of training as an elite shinobi had taught him well. To put a mission at risk also meant putting his village in danger.

The mission was classified as an 'A' rank. To him, it was not a difficult one. 'Locate his target and extract the necessary information,' that was his order. Tracking was easy with his ninkens. The harder part was the target taking his bait and breaking him. He had used a week to track his target, 3 weeks to set up traps and lure his target in, and another 3 weeks to force the vital information out, eliminate his target before erasing his tracks of him ever being there and 1 more week for him to go home. Still, he managed to complete the mission well before the given 3 months time frame. The mission was a success. All was well and now he was back in Konoha. What was left to do was to hand over his mission report and he could go find his dolphin.

Nevertheless to say, he knew where to find him. At this time, he would still be at the academy. He just had to hurry up a bit before the dismissal of today lesson. His thought kept wondering back to his lover as he gracefully leaped from roof to roof, not able to keep his chuckling behind his mask as he was sure the tanned chūnin would be surprise at his early return.

As he landed on the top of a building near the academy, he heard the bell chime, marking the end of school. Within seconds, he saw the academy's door violently swung out wards, followed by the pre-genins rushing out, laughing and chattering with their friends, oblivious to the harsh future that awaited them.

The silver-haired jōnin waited for the students to clear the area before leaping down from the roof and settled himself against the pillar facing the academy's door, as his hand went deftly into his pouch to fish for latest installment of his favorite orange book, flipping to where he had last stopped. Ah, the plot was nearing its climax as he was expecting his own where the brown haired chūnin will be out at any moment to lock the academy doors, his register of surprise, the warm smile and maybe, a hug before heading back to their home together for one of their favourite past-time. Technically, it is his lover's home. They had stayed together for the past half year so that his love would know when he would be back from his missions and for the silver-haired jōnin, it would also meant that he had a home to return to.

He frowned after waiting for several minutes. He really couldn't wait. _'Is there detention class today? I remembered seeing Konohamaru among the students rushing out from the academy, since he was the one always creating troubles and getting detention, then why isn't he out yet?_'

He could still feel his lover's chakra in his classroom but there was someone else there too. It did not feel like one of the students, but more like another chūnin, perhaps another sensei?

_'Maybe I should go in and get him myself. To let him know that I really missed him very much and needed him now after being away for two months. But what if he was in the midd__le of discussing something important about his students to another sensei?'_ He knew how passionate he could be when it comes to his students. He was always helping out with any difficulty they faced, showing concern when needed, being protective over them, and readily giving up his life when necessary, for Naruto's case.

_'Guess I will just have to go in and check out myself. If it is nothing important, I can just whisk him away' _he concluded.

Silently, he crept into the academy and made his way up to the classroom where his dolphin would be. He did not want his presence to be known, fearing to upset his lover if he was indeed in the middle of discussing any crucial issue with another sensei.

As he was nearing to the classroom, he instantly realized the owner of the chakra signature of the chūnin. It was Izumo, best friend of his lover ever since the incident of Mizuki. He did not know much of Izumo, beside hearing stories from his lover; Izumo and Iruka have known each other since the genin days and had completed several missions together. They were friends but not close, until Izumo pulled him out of the misery made necessary by Mizuki's betrayal, where their friendship blossomed.

The eye-patached jōnin was grateful for Izumo being there, since his lover would never disclose his distress to anyone. Izumo deserved the credit for the ability to detect the source early and reached out to him before it was too late. From what he knew, Izumo was also the one who built up his lover's confidence and encouraged his lover to confess his feelings for him, to which he was eternally grateful and glad.

Ever since they were officially together, he had always been to express his gratitude to Izumo. Yet, the window of opportunity was always not there. He seen him a couple of times in the mission room but he did not want to do it in front of people. The famous Copy Nin expressing his gratitude to a Chūnin? It didn't seem appropriate. Nor was it sincere. He could visit him but he did not know where he lives, though it would be easy to find out. He could tag along to their chūnin gathering but how should he converse with Izumo? He had no idea since he was not someone who knows how to strike a conversation at ease. His sweet little dolphin was the one who was very good at it, not him. Within his own group of friends; Asuma, Kurenai, Guy, Genma, Raidou and Anko, they always know what to say to him not what he would say to them. So, he dropped that idea.

Still, an appreciative gesture would be nice to let Izumo know he did treasure the relationship with the brown haired chūnin. Maybe now was the right moment. Since there wasn't anyone here apart from his lover and Izumo. He was sure this would make his dolphin happy too, knowing the appreciation and acknowledgment he gave to his best friend.

The silver-haired jōnin masked his chakra and listened tentatively before deciding if he should make his presence known. He closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to pick up any noise within his earshot. There was the sound of heavy breathing, the rhythmic scraping of soft fibers against wood from the table and nothing else. It was not what he expected. _'Wait, something wasn't right.'_ Before his mind could come up with the answer, he heard a moan.

It was a moan filled with pure pleasure. He froze. Did he hear it correctly? _'Wasn't the sound made by... ? No, it isn't possible. I must be delusion-ing things,'_ He calmed himself_. _Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him after an exhausted mission. He refused to let his mind wandered into the direction of what might be happening inside the classroom and tried to reason that it was probably nothing. Right on cue, he heard the second moan, louder than before. It was too unmistakable: the moan was made by his lover. His mind whirled in confusion, trying to reason what he heard and finding a sensible answer to it when he heard voices coming from the classroom.

"Iruka, do you want anyone walking past the classroom to hear that?" Izumo teased.

"I can't help it, you know that. It's your fault for wanting to do it in the classroom. What if one of the students walks in on us? It will be embarrassing!" Iruka blushed, touching the scar over his nose.

"Yes, I know. That's_ precisely_ why we did it here. To control the sounds you make. The last few times we did over at my place, you did a good job in making everyone staying at my block knows about us. I even received a couple of complaints, asking me to keep your voice down or letting them know in advance the next time I bring you over. I even have to resort in using the mute jutsu so that they can't hear it." Izumo mused, recalling how he had apologize to almost everyone from his block, just because his best friend cannot keep his voice down in times of full pleasure.

"There's the option of doing over at my place, you know…" Iruka suggested meekly, knowing very well what Izumo's response would be.

"... Your place? That isn't an option at all! Don't tell me it is alright to do it at your place when you are officially living under the same roof with the great copy nin!" he retorted. "Remember that only time we did it? As soon as Kakashi found out that I was over at your place when he was away on a mission, the next time I saw him at the mission room, he was glaring at me when he handed his mission report to me! Giving me the death stare and unspoken warning from his look that I had trespassed his territory. In that instant, everybody in the room cleared out, even Kotetsu. No one in the right mind will want to mess with the legendary shinobi. So tell me, which part of it was my fault that we had to do it here?" Izumo countered, looking deep into Iruka's eyes, he challenged.

There was a moment of silence, "You are right. I'm sorry..." Iruka sighed in defeat. "But you know the reason," he perked up. "You did far better than Kakashi, and I just can't get enough of it." He justified, darkening the pinkish glow on his face with a deeper blush. It was only when the words were spoken out, Iruka realised it sounded wrong.

Turning away from Izumo, he whsipered, "if you don't feel comfortable with it, we could stop." The last sentence was so soft that it was almost as if Iruka didn't want it spoken out loud.

He knew he could never reject the tanned partner, "You know that I don't mind. But shouldn't you at least talk to Kakashi? I'm sure he will understand and do something about it. If he finds out about this and what you intend to do, I'm not sure if he would ever let me live. I could tell he treasure you very much to the extent that he wanted you to be his and him only. To have another man touching you, even if that person is your best friend, I don't think he will take it down lightly." he cringed at the thought of being hunted down by the ex-ANBU.

"I won't let that happened, not to you! Kakashi knows better than to hurt my best friend."

"Still, talk to him 'Ruka. Let him know what's on your mind. You can't make a relationship sail if you are keeping things to yourself. If it doesn't works out, you still have me and you know that. I will _never, ever _leave you," reminded Izumo.

"Hai... Thanks Izu."

"Anytime. Shall we continue where we left off?" He grinned to Iruka.

Upon hearing that, the tension in the air broke, "Yes, please." he purred and at once, the pleasure he felt earlier was back on him again.

Kakashi was plastered to the sidewall outside the classroom. He was too shock to respond to the exchange of the conversations. Slowly, he mustered all his strength to move away from the classroom to prevent himself from hearing more of the uncontrollable self-indulged sounds made by Iruka, the what-should-have-been his only beloved lover. The sounds, which he thought was entitled and projected to him solely, were not his to begin with.

Once outside the academy, he gazed upon the sky. Clear as it was, his mind wasn't, his heart just sank to the bottom of a pit hole. He needed a place to straighten out his thinking and analyze the information he had just gathered.

_'Yes, information, not facts.'_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

><p>It was suffocating to be there. Such close proximity to the one you love, yet seem distant. The throbbing heartache was unbearable, quickly, he formed the set of seals for the teleport jutsu, which he regretted immediately.<p>

He knew this was not the place he wanted to be right now. Kakashi groaned and cursed himself mentally, how accustomed his mind had became to find comfort in the chūnin that it had readily teleported him back here.

But how could he blame himself? Ever since they started dating, the brown haired chūnin was always there for him; nursing every wound and injury inflicted during missions with silent companionship and mutual understanding of what the jōnin had gone through during a mission. Warm and blissfully delicious homemade meals were always spread across the table whenever he returned home. Even when he was away on a short mission, the tanned chūnin would keep his house neat and tidy, the laundry fresh and clean, topped up his food supply in his cabinet filled and even watered his beloved plant daily, despite his lack of interest in gardening.

He sighed.

Little by little, Iruka had peeled away, layer after layer of the steel barriers encasing the ex-ANBU's heart. The walls which he had carefully crafted over the years to hide his inner emotions, preventing anyone from coming close to know him fully, not even his own Sensei, the Fourth Hokage.

Before realising his own emotions of where this relationship had headed, the jōnin had unknowingly grown dependent on the younger man, both mentally and physically over the time.

Now, he stood, in the familiar place where serenity, peace, happiness should have been felt, was instead, overwhelmed with vulnerability.

His eye drifted idly over the living room which he left just two months ago.

Nothing had changed. The blue couch was still there, basking quietly in the streaming sunlight from the window.

The same couch he always lounged on during his mission-free days, reading his Icha Icha while watching his dolphin marking his students' homework and preparing his lesson plans at the small, worn, light brown table that was placed in front of the couch. He remembered how he would teasingly fiddled with the pony tail which Iruka always tugged firmly in place behind his head. At times, he would snuggle onto the back of his tanned body, indulging the warmth, slipping his hands over his waist, hugging him, eventually pulling him away from the table, onto the couch, distracting the chūnin from concentrating on his work.

He loved how the chūnin would always attempt to squirm his way out from his firm grip, but failing terribly, the crimson red sprayed across his face, distinctively enhancing the scar across his nose, unceasingly failed to subside as long as he was still in the hold of the older man. It amused Kakashi everytime. Iruka would then try to tackle Kakashi, forcing both of them to roll on to the floor, their bodies entangled as they wrestled each other, until ultimately, when Kakashi pinned the younger man down flatly between his shoulders, waiting for Iruka to stop struggling and blushingly give in.

Then, he would gaze into the chocolate eyes lovingly, before planting a chaste kiss on the forehead, just because his partner is just too hard to resist teasing.

Iruka would pout, an expression that always spoke louder than words, suggesting that he wanted something more than what the silver haired jōnin was giving him.

Kakashi would chuckle at it, dipping his head lower, brushing the tip of his nose over Iruka's, nuzzling it before leisurely making his way over to the ear, nibbling slightly, making the chūnin to shudder beneath him. Kakashi would want to tease him a little longer, until he felt his dolphin's hand grabbing onto him, fingers buried deep into his silver hair, pulling himself closer to Kakashi.

Getting the chūnin's hint, he would briskly break free from his cute dolphin, scooping Iruka up in a princess hug, before retreating into the bedroom, where desires were fulfilled, and cravings get satisfied.

Ah, the bittersweet memories, surfacing when it shouldn't had. How piercingly painful and very wrong. This was not the time he should dwell any further into his memory. He made himself break his train of thought and focus on what should he do now. He walked towards the one of the wall near the window, and leaned against it. He recalled what he had unintentionally overheard moment ago at the academy.

Kakashi ran a mental checklist on the facts he had learnt.

Who was the opponent?  
>The chuńin, Izumo, obviously. <em>Damn,<em>_that __chunin._

How long had this been going on?  
>Not possible to determine at this stage but should have been going on for some time. <em>Gosh,<em>_it was __all__ along __there,__ right __under__ my__ very __nose__ and __I__ thought__ I__ have __always __been __very __aware__ of__ my __surroundings. __Looks__ like__ I __might__ have__ got __it __wrong._

When did their underground relationship started?  
>Probably his previous long mission away from the village. It happened during the second week, the first long mission ever since he had moved in to Iruka's house. Tsunade summoned him for a classified mission. It <em>must <em>be, since Izumo did say something about coming over to their house when he was away on a mission and after he came back, he found traces of 'someone' staying overnight in their home before. Hairs which clearly does not belong to his lover and definitely not his, since he was away, was found in the bathroom sink. It was also hard to miss the additional cup placed in the kitchen sink, with coffee stained, whereas his love had a thing for tea.

Before he could ask anything about this mysterious person, his love had told him who it was and the reason for letting Izumo staying over. What was the reason again? "Izu came over to help me out with the upcoming exam. It was late when we were done with it. Since you were not around, I told him that he could stay."

It was a simple reason, he believed it. How could he not? He trusted Iruka. Still, he did not like the idea of another person staying over with his love during his absence, even that person is Izumo. The ex-ANBU went to the extent to make sure that Izumo understand it as well, approaching the mission desk to hand in his mission report when his love was not on duty, but Izumo was. It worked, and backfired. Genius he was, he did not think that they would do it over at Izumo's place instead, not to mention the academy too.

Where did it happen?  
>Once in their house, other times in Izumo's place and now in the academy.<p>

Why did it happen?  
>From the information he overheard, it was due to his lack of his abilities in satisfying the needs of his love. Apparently, Izumo knows all the right spots to hit on in order to make Iruka sing in pure obscene pleasure.<p>

Oh, the moans. And now those lovely sounds had automatically added some accompanying images in his head. Bad, very very bad. Normally, he would have ridden on a jittery high in it, but not when he wasn't the target of those uncontrollable cries of love.

Shaking his head furiously, the silver haired jōnin tried to forget the moans ringing incessantly in his head, refusing to comply to his brain to stop remembering. With much effort, he forced himself to continue analyzing the situation.

This was as far as he can gathered based on what he overheard. He should proceed to the next step, evaluate the problem.

Clink.

His thoughts was temporary distracted at the sound of the keys. His eye narrowed and looked toward the door._ 'He's back. I should just disappeared and figure this out before I see him.'_ Yet, a part of him did not want to leave. Still, he wasn't quite sure how he should face Iruka. Should he confront him or should he pretend that he knew nothing of it? He wasn't ready yet, not so fast.

The tanned sensei had not expect his aloof lover to be at home, since he's supposed to be involved in a high-ranked solo mission. His mind was exhausted from the morning duty in the mission room, followed by a full day teaching in the academy There is still a pile of homework on the table, waiting to be vetted through. and the additional task of replanning tomorrow class schedule, as most of his students could not understand the important of infusing the right amount of chakara, which would directly affect the strength, velocity and accuracy when throwing a kunai. He wants to impart as much knowledge as he could teach, and his students could absorb, to be prepared for what might comes in the future when they have grown to be a full-fledged Shinobi. He knew very well that knowledge of what you had learnt in the academy, would determine the life and death of one's comrades in actual battles.

Looking on the bright side, he did manage to relax a bit at the end of the day in the academy today. It was wonderful and relaxing. Thanks to his best friend, who always managed to cheer him up by giving what he yearned for. It warmed the brown chūnin, knowing well he could rely on his best friend what he needed, especially when his silver-haired lover was not around.

Iruka's mind had drifted back to savor the pleasure he felt in the classroom that he did not realised, to the point of opening the door and feeling another presence in the house. His body tensed, his trained instinct was to holster out his kunai, prepared to face whoever that would jump at him. It was when he realised the familiar chakara, his body relaxed and through years of handling his weapon, he kept it back to his pouch in a graceful motion. The chúnin's eyes quickly pinpoint and found the owner belonging to the chakara.

"Hey kiddo."

"Pakkun," he smiled fondly at the pug, "It's good to see you. Is everything alright?" The chūnin knew that Pakkun was here on the behalf of his absence lover, it usually happened when his lover was away on a long mission. Kakashi would ask one of his ninkens to deliver messages, small notes and even presents from the different countries he was assigned to during his mission. Iruka was truely touched by Kakashi's gestures.

"He's back," the pug sat down on his hind legs, tilted his neck sideway and using one of his short limbs, tried to reach and scratch behind his ear.

The chūnin perked up upon hearing this. His lover was back early from his mission! He missed him so much.

"He needs time to adjust back and won't be staying here for the time being."

"What?" before Iruka could register the words, the pug continued.

"And he specifically ordered me to tell you not to look him up for the time being. That's about it. Oh, I can't help but noticed, there seem to have a different smell lingering on you... A mixture of sweat and something…? It's familiar. It must be a human thing. I'm deadbeat from the mission too. Kakashi had been ordering us around too much. See you around kiddo." Without waiting for any response from the recipient, the pug disappeared in a puff of smoke, as if the pug was just a figment of imagination.

Iruka blinked once, then twice at the spot the pug was sitting just a moment ago. The elated expression wiped out from his face. _'What was that about?'_ Making his already worn out brain to work coherently, he repeated in his mind the message he just received._ 'He's back, decided not to come back home, and I'm not suppose to look him up when I have missed him so much?'_

The brain chanted incessantly,_ 'not to look him up, not to look him up, not to look him up'._ His first instinct was to flare up._ 'What is the meaning of this? He sent Pakkun to tell me I'm not supposed to look him up when he's back in the village? After we have not be seeing each other for two months, he tells me not to look him up?'_ Anger boiling under his skin. He corrected himself,_ 'No, not he, he sent his ninken to tell me not to look him up. What, he doesn't have the guts to tell me himself?'_ He fumed, almost blowing his top right there.

_'Halt! Calm down,'_ the logical and better part of him cut into his thoughts._ 'Pakkun said, he needs time to adjust back. That's why he did not want you to look him up. It's not that he doesn't miss you.'_ His inner mind reasoned and assured him.

Taking a deep breathe, he calmed himself down.

_'Why?'_ He questioned himself._ 'Did the mission went wrong? Did he do something terrible in the mission? Did something unexpected happen during the mission?_' Anxiety crept into him._ 'It can't be. No matter how unpleasant a mission went, Kakashi would want me near him, to know what he did was to protect the village, and that's the truth. Why didn't he come back to me and stop me from seeing him?'_ Questions after questions poured into his mind in mere seconds. Questions with no explanation.

Then, it struck him._ 'He's wounded! It must be, that would explain why he refuses to come back. He doesn't want me to worry about him.'_ The last time the highly trained jōnin was badly injured, Iruka was worried-sickened. He may be a chūnin, but he was also an academy sensei, that means, he was sent to medic courses, just like the rest of the sensei, to be trained and taught with the basic knowledge of medical. Who knows what might happen when you let young children to interact with weapons that can prove fatal. From the pre-examine check he did when the ex-ANBU had came back with his clothing stained with dark coloured stain, he held his breathe, bracing himself for any fatal wound he might find; a deep cut on his left side of his lower abdomen, two to three broken ribs, a nasty slash across his back from the right shoulder down across to the left mid-section and with a serious chakara depletion. Even so, his stubborn lover had refused to get his wounds treated in the hospital, casually stating it was nothing serious and these were the norms he would get. A bottle of disinfectant, a roll of bandage, okay maybe a few roll, and popping some chakara pills, he would be as good as before. It was after much persuasion from Iruka, his stubborn lover finally gave in to his overly-concern dolphin and agreed to at least let Sakura come over and take a look at the serious ones after Iruka had taken care of those within his ability.

This time, the wounds his beloved had gotten from the mission must be worse then the previous. With that in his mind, he dashed out of his house, leaving his door unlocked, with one destination in his mind. He's seeing him for sure, message received or not.

* * *

><p>icyfio: Sorry it took so long to upload my story. Hope you all still like it and I have make some edits to chapter one.<p> 


End file.
